


Star-Crossed

by Peverellis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Development, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Training, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Plot, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Redemption, Rise of Skywalker wish fulfillment, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 21:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20453570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peverellis/pseuds/Peverellis
Summary: “Why do you think the Force brought the two of us together?”"Would knowing make this any easier?"--(As Kylo Ren ascends to power, a Resistance left in shambles struggles to regroup in their rebellion. To save the galaxy, battles must be fought, hearts must be broken, and sacrifices must be made.)





	Star-Crossed

It was too quiet. The Supreme Leader surveyed the dark room from his seat, still struggling to adjust to the strange silence around him. The flat hum of the ship droned from his bedroom walls. Every so often, footsteps echoed dully from outside as troopers marched through the halls. The air felt static and heavy. The intense spark that the Force once had was extinguished. There was no monster whispering instructions in his ear. There were no more soft threats in the night, or horrific, forced tasks for him to execute. There was no excruciating punishment waiting for him around every corner. Now that his master was dead, everything felt muted, numb. Snoke’s final act of retribution had been leaving Kylo Ren to suffer in his own skull. Without any external distractions, the horror in his head was filling the silence. Something terrible was trapped inside his mind’s barriers, desperately trying to scratch its way out. He was forced to confront the worst of his thoughts; all the hatred, the violence, and the rage demanded attention. He had become the monster little Ben Solo feared. 

When the darkness was too much to bear and that child in him cried for mercy, he would pound his fist into the wall until his knuckles split. Under the gloves, his hands were bruised and bleeding. He’d killed Han Solo. Doing the same to Snoke had been too easy. Even Luke Skywalker had fallen before him. The only enemy left for Kylo Ren to destroy was himself. 

Or her.

That idea terrified him most. The words had come to his lips so effortlessly on Crait. “I’ll destroy her. And you. And all of it.” He’d meant it. In that moment, she was more than he could bear. Rey was a brilliant, scalding light that threatened everything he had become. And she’d made him think he’d found salvation. That was the danger. He was arrogant to think Rey would follow him to the end of the world. There was nothing he could say to stop her from leaving.

“I’m sorry,” a little voice suggested. Kylo Ren shoved his fist into the side of his chair, digging at his already swollen joints until the throbbing drowned out his guilty conscious. At least Snoke had been able to keep the light from tearing him apart. Now, he could feel his own weakness folding underneath the pressure, his stomach roiling-

“Supreme Leader.” Kylo Ren released his hand and forced himself to refocus on the icy man who swept into the room. Armitage Hux was his usual stiff, suspicious, haughty self. His chin slightly inclined and jaw tight, the Supreme Leader didn’t need any special abilities to sense the contempt radiating off his highest ranking officer.

“General,” he replied in an equally frigid tone. If only he could get rid of Hux. The man was always plotting, undermining, working in his own best interest. If it weren’t for the rest of the First Order, Kylo Ren would have beheaded him at his first treachery back aboard the Supremacy. But he knew better. Despite being Supreme Leader, most of the First Order held more trust in the general than they did in him.

“The advancements are going well,” Hux announced, looking smug. “We should be ready for deployment in-”

“Have we been able to locate the Resistance yet?” he interrupted.

“Sir, we’ve discussed this-”

“I didn’t asked if we’ve discussed this,” Kylo Ren snapped. “I asked if you’ve located the Resistance.” Hux looked like he had swallowed poison.

“No, but-”

“I think I’ve been fairly clear, General Hux. Finding the remainder of the Resistance is our top priority,” he said. Part of him missed the effect his mask used to have on his voice. Without it, he was constantly confronted with how childish he sounded. As much as he tried to be threatening, even he could hear the infantile edge in his orders.

“But-”

“All your plans will be useless if the Resistance regains power,” he warned. Hux was becoming visibly agitated, a scarlet heat shining on his ears, cheeks, and nose. 

“Sir,” the general said, “the Resistance must have less than 50 men left. They have no way of posing a threat to the First Order.” 

Kylo Ren raised an eyebrow. “Not yet,” he admitted. “But they’ve come back from worse.” At this, Hux outright laughed.

“We don’t need to waste resources on a group of half-dead rebels who barely have a ship to their pathetic cause. The military advisors and I have agreed that our efforts are better focused on the…” Hux’s strategic tirade continued, but Kylo Ren’s mind was already worlds away.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled and he was struck by a sudden wave of disorienting dizziness. It was happening again, a nauseating yet familiar sensation that made his heart leap into his throat. When he finally looked up, her eyes were waiting for him. He could hear his pulse spitting in his skull.

“Supreme Leader?” Hux had apparently finished talking, now staring at him with expectant pale eyes. Rey stood stone still on the other side of the room, unbeknownst to the general, and Kylo Ren would let nothing interrupt the conversation he’d been awaiting for weeks.

“Get out.”

Hux spluttered. “Excuse me?” Kylo Ren raised a single gloved hand, barely turning his palm in the general’s direction. Hux immediately took a step backwards but didn’t comply with his orders. “I don’t understand.”

“Get out,” the Supreme Leader repeated, this time clenching his palm into a fist. He could feel Hux’s breath in his hands as the other man gasped for air. He was released within seconds, but the lingering threat of further harm was enough to send Hux rushing out of the room, left hand clutching his throat.

And then they were alone.

He tried to stay focused on what he should have been asking. Where are you? Where is the Resistance? Instead, he was distracted by the way her face seemed to soften when his eyes met hers. What he’d previously seen as kindness suddenly struck him as pained pity.

“I thought this was over,” Rey said. So had he. He’d assumed that she was blocking the bond ever since its last connection on Crait. After all, she’d been the one to close the door for what he’d thought was the final time. 

“Apparently not.” The Force had only ever given him trouble, tethering him to all the wrong people and places. Like it or not, he and Rey were bonded to one another. He could only hope it wasn’t another instance of the universe trying to lead him astray. 

She stayed quiet for a moment. “Luke is gone.” As if he didn’t already know. The moment his uncle disappeared on Crait, he’d felt it end. Kylo Ren was robbed of his revenge in four words as Luke Skywalker became one with the Force and just…vanished. What should have been a victory left him feeling more hollow than ever. Just like it always did. But he wouldn’t admit that. Especially not to her. 

“If you’re expecting an apology-”

“No,” she interrupted. “I don’t want you to say anything.” He sat back in his chair, vindicated. She could call him by his name all she wanted. It wouldn’t change the fact that she was just like Leia and Han and Luke. He’d made Rey hate him all the same. It wasn’t the smoking rage that had been in her eyes back in the forest, nor was it the venomous contempt he’d seen the first time their minds were bridged. What he saw now was a suffocating, passive kind of disappointment. The Ben Solo she was looking for would have begged and cried for her forgiveness. Yet Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader, wasn’t going to let himself be distracted by her regret. He swallowed emotion, set his jaw, and let acidic darkness fill his veins. 

“You’re upset.” He cocked his head to the side. “You thought you could turn me.”

Rey’s voice was strained. “I thought you could leave this behind on your own. I thought you were strong enough-”

Kylo Ren’s mouth filled with venom. “Who are you to talk about strength? You’re a pawn,” he dismissed. “The Resistance is lost. They hang by a thread at the edge of the galaxy with nowhere left to run, groveling at the dead Republic’s feet. And you still can’t let go.” The skin pinched over his knuckles as his hands balled into fists. It was happening again. Words, false and cruel, spilled out of his mouth faster than he could comprehend them. Each insult stung his lips and burned his tongue. He watched her face for each insult to make its impact. Instead, she stared firmly at the floor, expression unchanging. 

“You asked me to set the world on fire and destroy the good alongside the bad. I won’t do that,” she said. Standing before him, he was struck by her resemblance to the old guard of rebels. She had Luke’s conviction and his father’s determination and his mother’s strength. Rey was all of them and more. He felt his heartbeat rise into his throat. The energy around them was shifting, absorbing his fear and amplifying it throughout the room. She could sense his weakness, he knew, as she looked back into his eyes. “I’d rather be a pawn than whatever you are.”

“And what am I?” he challenged, rising to full height. For a moment, he could feel the Force change through her, boiling, darkening. Her frustration and pain burned in pulsing waves. Rey closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the conflict was gone. 

“You’re a coward.” She’d called him worse. Monster. Creature. But none of those insults had ever sunk into his chest the way “coward” did. It was a slow, crushing sensation. There was no air in the room for him to breathe. Kylo Ren had spent his entire life fighting to survive, facing down horrors that Rey did not even dare imagine. He was not a coward. At that moment, she couldn't have said anything worse. He was only vaguely aware of his hands beginning to vibrate at his sides. There was no pain for him to use as a distraction. 

“I am the Supreme Leader of the First Order!”

“Exactly,” Rey shot back. She was searing now, too bright in his dark chambers. He could feel the light shining off her like the sun. “After everything you did, saving me, killing Snoke, you still ran back to the Dark Side. Because you’re scared.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She did. She knew, saw right through him, and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

“I’ve seen what’s in your head.”

But the bond went both ways. “There’s darkness in you too, Rey,” he said. “Luke saw it. I see it. You try to hide the feeling, but it will always be there.” Even as she shone before him, he was acutely aware of the way that amount of power could snap. She could turn, like he did, under the same pressure.

“I choose the light,” she said. 

He didn’t mean to laugh, but the sound bubbled out of him, bitter and hollow. “The Dark Side always wins.” 

“You won’t.” 

Kylo Ren narrowed his eyes. “Who’s going to stop me?” he asked. “You?” Rey held his gaze, defiant. He could feel the floor start to sway under his feet. For a brief, final moment, they were locked together, the only people in the galaxy. He felt her determination throb against him as the Force rippled with tension. The memory of their conversation on Ahch-To swirled around them. Those emotions were still raw: longing, understanding. There remained a part of him that wanted nothing more than to fight alongside her, to be united and strong and whole again, together. But her eyes drew a line that he couldn’t cross. She was slipping away. 

He was alone in the darkness again, where the silence threatened to eat him alive.

Kylo Ren had been taught to ground himself in the Force, first by Luke and then Snoke. Throughout his whole life, he’d been able to find comfort through the energy that surrounded him, light and dark alike. But now he couldn’t control the constant agitation that rattled his bones. Peace had become impossible. Every waking second was occupied by his mind churning through the galaxy at breakneck speed. He stopped using the Force and started consuming it. His powers absorbed the balance of their reality and shattered it, like a shard of glass splitting light. There was nothing he could do to stop himself from destroying everything around him, including himself. Kylo Ren had become chaos. He wanted to set the entire galaxy ablaze, scourge the memory of his pain from every last inch. He would watch every inkling of who he was go up in smoke with everyone else until there was nothing left. And when everything was ashes, he would burn that too. Only then could he have even the slightest possibility of starting over. Ben Solo would finally be dead and Kylo Ren would have to be collateral damage. The man that he was left with could have a new beginning. 

Rey would never let that happen. He saw that now. She was too much of the old to usher in a new era. Any compassion that he felt for her would have to be cast aside for his own survival. His premonition of her, shrouded in darkness, couldn’t be trusted. After all, she had seen him turn to the light in their shared moment of weakness. Rey was one of the last things holding him in the past, the present. To ascend into his future, she would have to be eliminated. Still, the thought of killing her, the image of igniting his saber through her chest…

His palms were suddenly burning. Smoking. Scorching. Kylo Ren rose from his seat, gasping for air. It was a feeling unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The darkness was like lava spilling through his hands and gathering at his fingertips. Out of his control, flashes of Rey invaded his thoughts, taunting him. He struggled to strip the gloves off his shaking hands. They revealed the bloody, bruised mess. He blinked and tried to clear his mind. Rey was joined by other faces that leered at him in his mind’s eye. Luke. His father. The other Jedi apprentices. His hissing palms started to glow. Bright blue light filled the room. He realized too late what was happening. 

Powerful, terrifying lightning shot from his fingers and ricocheted around the room. Sparks rained from the ceiling as the purest of dark energy manifested itself in his body. Bolts flashed through him, barely controlled, capturing the power of his conflict and accelerating by the second. The current exploded through his fingertips until he couldn’t feel them anymore. He felt rage pour out of him until the very air ignited with his anger. Blue electricity tore the room apart in a grand display of destruction that put all his other powers to shame. 

A flood of relief overwhelmed him as the lightning crackled out in his hands, finally ending in a hiss of smoke. He struggled to catch his breath. His hands were still trembling, but the agony was gone. Now, the euphoria that filled his body was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. An intense pressure had been lifted off his chest. He could breathe. For the first time in his life, he was weightless. He had conjured Force lightning, the greatest dark ability a Force user could ever manifest. It was a sign, proof that all his potential could be realized. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren could be all that he was prophesied to be. Since birth, he’d been pulled in so many directions, torn apart by the very Force that what supposed to hold the galaxy together. But one thing had been certain since childhood: he was going to be more powerful than any of his predecessors, Jedi and Sith alike. All the years of pressure and expectations had led to this victory. 

Rey didn’t stand a chance. 

He bathed in the moment…until his fingers started to sting. It was too good to last. He was off-balance again, the light still tugging on the back of his neck. Even now, it wouldn’t leave him alone. Second by second, the discomfort creeped back. His bones ached, head pounded. Kylo Ren groaned. The room around him seemed to do the same. 

Some of the metal ceiling panels had crashed to the ground. Loose wires spit sparks across the floor. Black burn marks covered everything. He grimaced in spite of himself. There was something satisfying about seeing the physical damage his frustration could do. Debris, strewn everywhere, had left a fine gray powder covering every surface in the room. The air had a sharp, clean smell, barely tinged by the lingering smoke.

His eyes eventually landed on the table in the corner. From behind a heap of rubble, his grandfather’s helmet called him, throbbing through the Force like an open wound. Darth Vader’s lingering presence was familiar and comforting. The very sight of the mask reminded him of the legacy he had to follow. Yet next to his grandfather’s helmet, sat something else. Immediately recognizable, it was both familiar and impossible. The mask of Kylo Ren sat in the ashes. Every dent, crease, and crack had been painstakingly repaired. The shards were refused, fissures filled with red. The helmet was new again. There was something ominous about its sudden appearance in such a pristine condition. Someone had reconstructed it without his blessing or permission. No one in the First Order had the gall to do something like that. As he stared at it, Kylo Ren became suddenly and acutely aware of another presence in the room. He was being watched. “Who’s there?” he called into the shadows. “What do you want?”

A laugh, harsh and cruel and cold, echoed throughout the room. Kylo Ren followed the sound until he came face to face with the intruder. Yellow eyes, ringed in scarlet, stared at him from the shadows. 

“You, young Skywalker,” the man said, smile glistening in the dark, “I have watched your career with great interest.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for giving this a read! If you liked this chapter or would like to read more, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think! This is basically my own version of The Rise of Skywalker, and I already have 30k+ words of angsty wish fulfillment written (with more to come), with multiple character POVs and spanning a full plot outline that is over 50 chapters long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will hopefully have another one posted soon! :)


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